Which Priesthood Does Roman Catholicism Represent?

Ask the average person on the street of what a Roman Catholic priest is and the response is typically going to be, “Oh, that’s the guy who is dressed up in all-black clothing with a white collar.”

Ask the average person on the street what a Roman Catholic priest is supposed to represent, biblically, and the response is going to be, “Oh, he’s a minister that does religious stuff, like preach and teach.”

To most Roman Catholics, those kinds of responses are perfectly fine, as they know just about as much about the Roman Catholic priesthood, as they do about the Bible, which is not much.

So, that begs the question of which of the two priesthoods, that God ordained to intercede for his chosen people, does Roman Catholicism represent?

Is it the Old Testament priesthood found in Exodus 28 and Leviticus 21-22?

Frankly, I have never seen a Roman Catholic priest dressed in the same garb as those described in Exodus 28, much less have I known of one Roman Catholic priest that ever took a bull, ram, or turtledove and sacrificed it on an altar to atone for the sins of God’s people.

Even among Roman Catholics, they will admit the same, as they assume that Christ has ended the sacrificial system with the giving of his own life, even though they also assume that the Roman Catholic priest keeps murdering him every time he conducts the Mass (Eucharist).

Therefore, it is safe to conclude that Roman Catholicism does not represent the Old Testament priesthood.

So, how about the New Testament? Does the Roman Catholic priesthood represent it instead?

Most of what is discussed in the New Testament regarding priests and the priesthood are direct illusions to the Old Testament.

The very few references that do not refer directly to the Old Testament priesthood make it perfectly clear that Roman Catholicism does not represent the New Testament priesthood either.

In 1 Peter 2:9 we read, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Here, Peter is talking about the redeemed; Christian people, not some religious order that has been partitioned off from the rest of the church to serve some kind of religious function.

Peter would continue, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Has the Roman Catholic priesthood ever been called “a people”? Not that I can recall.

Elsewhere, in Revelation 1:5-6, the apostle John speaks of the redeemed as well, whom Jesus “has freed from our sins by his blood, and made us a kingdom,  priests to his God and Father, to him glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

A similar comment is found in Revelation 5:10, where John wrote of Jesus (the Lamb worthy to open a scroll of impending judgment), who ransomed himself for God’s people, “and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

Finally, in Revelation 20:6, there is a resurrection scene that is to take place, whereby those who have taken part are declared, “Blessed and holy,” as well as immune to the “second death, “but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.”

Nothing is said about them wearing black garb and white collars.

Nothing is said about them conducting strange rituals and committing to non-marriage.

Nothing is said about them standing apart in some cloister, whereby they are addressed as “Father.”

The New Testament priesthood is made up of the redeemed; those bought back from the slave market of sin by the blood of Christ.

They have direct access to the throne of God (Heb. 4:16) and have no need for an intermediary, like those found in the Old Testament, in order to speak to God.

For all practical and biblical purposes, a Roman Catholic priest is an imposter.

He does not represent either the Old or New Testament priesthoods in anything he says, does, or even looks like, and only those with a very shallow or neglectful view of the Bible would contend otherwise.